


To Love and Be Loved

by katwithak32



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Past Aang/Katara (Avatar), Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:49:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katwithak32/pseuds/katwithak32
Summary: There is only one happiness in life, that is to love and be loved. When Mai leaves Zuko, it leaves him very confused and hurting. He doubts himself and whether or not he is able to deserve love, especially the love of a young water bender who he has grown very fond of over the years. This one shot focuses on the night that Katara and Zuko find one another and then it delves into sneak peaks at the future of the Gaang and how their lives as well as the world have changed for the better.Disclaimer: I have never watch LOK and I have only read the first part of the comics following the original series of ATLA. So this is all post ATLA, ignoring LOK and the comics.
Relationships: Aang/Toph Beifong, Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52





	To Love and Be Loved

**Author's Note:**

> This fic involved a lot of ideas that I have had in my head for some time. Let me know if you like it! Enjoy!

“It’s just too hard Zuko, I’m sorry.” The dark haired girl looked Zuko in the eyes as she tore him. “I really thought that this is what I wanted, but being Fire Lady, I just don’t think I’m cut out for it.” Her forever monotone voice dredged on and her face, always without any expression, for once shed a tear. “I don’t think that I can love you, and be married to you. There just isn’t enough room in this palace for love, I don’t know how anyone could ever love you when you’re always in meetings, and when you’re not in meetings, there is always someone watching, we’re, we’re NEVER alone.” He dropped his gaze, he couldn’t meet her eyes, he felt his heart breaking, but felt relieved all together. “The nightmares that keep you awake at night, they keep me awake to. Those advisors that are all over you all the time, well they’re all over me too. I just can’t love you like this, Zuko, I’m sorry.” She touched his good cheek, as always, because she wouldn’t touch the ruined side of his face, no one did. 

Mai grabbed the small bag of possessions that she wanted to take with her, and hurried out of the room before he could try to convince her otherwise. She left him there, the great and powerful, Fire Lord Zuko, alone and crying on his double king size bed, that had never felt so lonely. 

“So what do I do now?” He rasped to the empty room. He didn’t know how to feel. He knew that the end was near, but he had refused to accept it. They had grown so far apart in the last 4 years, and had nothing but fight and argue since the engagement a year ago. They were supposed to be married six months ago, that is, until word reached them that the avatar and Katara had called off their wedding. Zuko had given Mai some line about not wanting to boast in front of their closest friends, and both he and Mai could see right through his BS. But those feelings, those feelings that he had had at the end of the war, he had tried to push them down and ignore them for 4 long years, and it hadn’t worked. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Mai, it was that he felt stronger for someone else, and that someone would never love him back. 

Not that Mai really LOVED him, but she was there. She was a warm body that was willing to shoulder the responsibility that was being Fire Lady. Or so he thought, until tonight. A new round of sobs began to tear through him and he thought about all of the people that would never and could never truly love him. His father, his sister, Katara. 

Katara. He somehow always found his mind wandering to her. Her caramel skin was so smooth and delicious, her beautiful blue eyes that could pierce through any walls he tried to erect between them, that chocolate brown hair that made a wavy ocean of its own. Katara, the water bender who had unknowingly stolen his heart. His favorite part about her though, was her unwavering sense of beneficence. Her goal in life was to help. That’s where she wanted to be at all times, where she could help people. She was strong and fierce, and smart, and beautiful, but at the end of the day, she was also the kindest person he would ever meet. Which is why he knew in his heart that he would never deserve her, no matter how badly he wanted to. But it was her kindness that lead her to find her way to the Fire Nation, to help build smaller towns that were devastated by the war, back into the booming economies that they were before. She was here, helping his people more than he ever could. 

Guilt hit him like a ton of bricks, which brought more hot tears to stain his cheeks, and pain as his scarred eye began to swell. He deserved the scars, and the pain, he deserved all of it. He was broken hearted over losing one of the closest people to him, but he couldn’t blame her either. He was sitting here, thinking about another woman, just hours after she had left. A woman he could never be with, and that shattered his heart all over again. Even if he was ever lucky enough to win over her affection, Mai was right, no one could ever love him and be married to him. He was the Fire Lord and the nation had to come first. 

There was a knock on his door, but he didn’t hear it, he was breaking down again. He could never love anyone the way that they deserved, not Mai, especially not Katara, and that was why he would never receive the love that he so badly craved. His big, hot tear rolled down his cheeks and his body shook with sobs as his heart continued to break. That’s when he heard her

“Zuko?” Katara whispered as she made her way into the room. “You didn’t come to dinner tonight, and when no one had heard from you, I was worried.” She slowly approached him but before she could get in front of him, he quickly turned away covering his face.

“Katara, please. I don’t want you to see me like this.” His voice was rough and shook from crying, but he was thankful he was able to get them out without his voice breaking. 

“Zuko, I can leave. But if you don’t want to be alone, or you need to talk, you know that I’m here. No judgment, nothing like that. I won’t think that you’re weak. You can talk to me, but I won’t make you.” She spoke softly and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She felt him relax and deflate under her touch. “Can I stay?” She asked, and he nodded, still covering his face.

She sat next to him on the bed and wrapped her arms around him, which only made him weep harder. There was a storm inside of him and he didn’t know how to tame it. He was hurting over Mai, but he was relieved at the same time, and he was terrified of what would happen if he told Katara about his feelings for her, she could never love him, he didn’t deserve it. But he took advantage of her closeness to put himself at ease, even if just a little bit. He sobbed into his hands with the water bender wrapped around him, holding what was left of him together. Slowly his sobs slowed to sniffles, and eventually, the great Fire Lord ran out of tears.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Katara whispered, never letting go. He shrugged and she moved her hand away from his shoulder, she slowly pulled his hands from his face, and cupped his scarred cheek. He sighed, but he didn’t pull away, she was still the only person in the world, other than himself who had been allowed to touch his scar. She turned his head toward her and his smoldering golden eyes met her cerulean ones, as she wiped away his last tears. “Talk to me Zuko. Not as the Fire Lord, talk to me as Zuko, my best friend.” She tried with all of her might to convey unspoken feelings for him through their locked gaze, and he closed his eyes and nodded with a sigh. He opened them and looked into her eyes for strength before beginning.

“Okay.” He started but his voice broke and he closed his eyes and sighed once again, deciding to throw caution to the wind and go all in. “Mai left me. She said that no one can love me and be married to me because being Fire Lady is too demanding of a job, and that I can’t be married to my country and still love someone the way that they should be.” His eyes dropped and he could feel that familiar wobble of his lip as he recounted his worst fears being stated allowed once more. 

“Zuko, you must know that that isn’t true. I know that being Fire Lady is a difficult job, but it’s not an impossible one, and loving you should be the easiest thing in the world.” She didn’t realize what she had let slip until it was already from her mouth. 

“Well, apparently it isn’t, and I can understand why. I’m always in meetings, and like she said, when I’m not in meetings, I’m almost never alone. I also can’t forget the fact that I have nightmares, every single night, and that half of my face is gone, so everyone fears not only my title, but my face as well. She’s not wrong Katara.” And his voice broke again. “I’m sorry, you don’t need to deal with my insecurities. Thank you for being here with me.” He got up and went to walk away, but she was quicker and caught him by the arm before he could get away. 

“Zuko, wait, please.” She grabbed his arm and turned him towards her, wrapping her arms around him middle, and resting her head against his chest. “I know that you don’t think you’re worthy, but Zuko, she wasn’t worthy of you. You are a strong man, with a good sense of right and wrong, you would do anything for this nation, but you would do more for the people that you love. You’re nightmares are not your fault, and you know what? I have them too, and so does Sokka, and Toph, and Aang, because war does not end when the treaties are signed. As for your scar? It makes you who you are, I don’t know how you got it, and I’ll never expect you to tell me, but Zuko, you need to understand, that despite what others may say about it, or how they react to it, it’s part of what makes you who you are, and who you are in someone that I love.” She squeezed him and tight as she could and she could feel him coming undone again. He bent his head down and kissed the top of her head. 

“Katara?” He rasped with a broken, rough voice. 

“Yes?” She moved back just enough so she could look him in the eyes. 

“I don’t deserve you.” He stated plainly, he didn’t know if she would pick up on anything else he might have meant. 

“But you do, and I, I wasn’t going to say anything, because you were engaged to Mai, and at the time, my relationship with Aang had so recently ended, but Zuko, I have a connection to you, one that I can’t shake. You aren’t the only reason that I left Aang, but I would be lying to you if I said you had nothing to do with my decision.” She let out a huff and then brought her hands to his face. “I don’t know what has made you think that you’re unworthy of love, I don’t know if it was Mai’s inability to express it, or the lack of it that you’ve received, but Zuko, I’m in love with you. Fire Lord or not.” Her eyes began to brim with tears and her heart started racing as she confessed the feelings that had been eating away at her for years, only to get significantly worse once she’d moved to the palace. 

Zuko was dumbfounded. How, how did this wonderful, beautiful, and perfect woman, fall for him? He was an emotionally confused young man, with a half ruined face, and totally ruined self-esteem, that didn’t exactly scream ‘catch’ to him. That’s when he noticed he hadn’t yet formed a response. Katara began to back out of his arms and her gaze was downcast.

“I’m sorry that I sprung that on you, I, I just thought that that’s what you meant when you said you didn’t deserve me. I see now that I misread the situation. It was stupid anyway, you wouldn’t want to be with a water bender. I, uh, I’ll see you around.” She went to move away and leave, but Zuko tightened his grip on her. 

“No, Katara, you didn’t misread the situation, and you never do, because you know me. My feelings for you, they’ve been in my head for years, but I tried to ignore them, and then once you and Aang broke up, I just couldn’t anymore. And I know that Mai sensed it. She knew. But all of that aside, I don’t DESERVE you. You are beautiful, and smart, and kind, and I am just me.” He tried to make her understand that the reasons they shouldn’t be together had nothing to do with her being a water bender, or her not being royalty, it only had to do with the fact that he wasn’t worthy.

“Zuko, I know that you don’t see yourself the way that I see you. But I don’t think you ever will unless you let me try to show you. You don’t believe that you deserve me, but I feel just the opposite. You jumped in front of a bolt of lightning for me, you would do anything for the people that you love, you are also strong and smart, and there isn’t anything about you that I don’t think is beautiful.” She smiled up at him with one hand on the star shaped scar on his chest, and the other cupping his ruined cheek, running her finger tips along the bottom of the scar. “There is nothing about you that I don’t love, and I’d like a chance to show you that, if you’ll let me.” He just stared at her, tear welling in his eyes once more, but instead of crying, instead of hurt and pain, all he found with Katara was love.

“I love you too, Katara.” He whispered and leaned down to capture her lips in a fierce kiss. It started slowly, but the passion between the two of them grew. He deepened the kiss and tasted every part of her mouth, she let out soft moans, as he nibbled her bottom lip. He felt like he was dreaming, there’s no way that this could be happening, but it was, and he was going to drink up every drop. Eventually, their kisses were stopped by a growling noise that came from his stomach. 

“You never came to dinner.” Katara reminded him by whispering in his ear.

“I think that perhaps I could have dinner delivered here.” He winked at her and began to kiss her again, he kissed her like his life depended on it, because in many ways, it did.   
“I love you.” She whispered to him as he laid her on the bed.

“I love you too.” He replied through a smile, and they removed their clothes. “Are you sure that you’re ready for this?” He eyed her curiously. 

“I’ve never been so sure of anything or anyone in my life.” And she threw her arms around his neck. That night they made sweet, passionate love, and both fell into a dreamless, blissful sleep in each other’s arms. 

\--------

Two year later they would have their wedding. The ceremony was extravagant, half of the decorations were Fire Nation crimson, and the other half water tribe blue. Katara wore the ceremonial crimson of the Fire Lady, but Zuko switched things up by adding a blue parka with white fur lining to his ceremonial robes. 

The ceremony was beautiful, Toph and Suki served as bridesmaids, while Aang and Sokka were Zukos groomsmen. The wedding went off without a hitch and feast that followed lasted two full days, with food, music, dancing, and bending displays. The Fire Nation had an unusual Fire Lord and Lady, but it would seem as though this unlikely pair would be the ones to bring the Fire Nation back to its former glory. 

\--------

Months passed before Katara and Zuko had time to see any of their friends aside from day time visits at the palace, but that changed the day that Katara received a letter from her brother. She was going to be an aunt! The two of them travelled to the southern water tribe to witness the birth of their beautiful god-daughter, a water bender. Her hair was red like her moms, but she had bright blue eyes and dark skin like her dad. They called her Yue and they partied and celebrated under the moon for a whole week. 

\-------

A year after that, they were attending a summit in Ba Sing Se where they ran into Aang and Toph. 

“So, Sugar Queen, I think we need to talk.” Toph said quietly, this startled Katara because she had never known the girl to be quiet in her life. 

“What is it Toph?” Katara turned to her, though the cucumbers over her eyes prevented her from seeing her, they were having a spa day like they did back during the war. 

“I, I have been seeing Twinkle Toes, and he and I, I think that we may get married, but, I don’t want to do that if we don’t have your blessing.” The younger girl turned her head downward, but her visionless gaze stayed neutral. 

“Ahhhhhhh! Toph that’s so amazing!” Katara jumped up out of the pedicure chair, ripping off the cucumbers to hug the other girl. “Of COURSE you have my blessing!” She yelled as she accidentally smeared her face mask all over Tophs shoulder. 

“Ha! Okay, that’s enough gooey feely stuff, you’re getting me all gross.” Toph whined, but she was beaming.

It was only a few weeks later that they received the official invite. Aang chose Zuko as his best man and Toph chose Katara as her maid of honor, and again they partied for nearly a week before going separate ways again. 

\--------

Almost a whole year later, Zuko and Katara welcomed their first baby into the world. A strong, beautiful young girl. She was a spitting image of her mother, but she had her fathers golden eyes, and she could bend fire better than anyone Zuko had ever seen. They called her Izumi. About a year and a half later, Zuko and Katara welcomed their next two children a set of twins. A boy named Iroh, and a girl named Ursa. The boy was a near carbon copy of his father, though he was a water bender. And Ursa, Ursa was one of a kind, she was not a bender, but she got her way just fine, she could build and strategize with the best. This would lead to long nights discussing strategies and inventions with her uncle Sokka while Yue and Izumi would spar. Iroh would spend his time playing with Giatso, one of the only two air benders in the world. 

\--------

Decades went by in the blink of an eye, the entire world had found peace. And so had the Fire Lord who had convinced himself that he would never deserve it. Zuko dies an old man, surrounded by what living friends he has left, with Katara and his family by his side. He has found his peace, he has regained his honor, and he has reinstilled the sense of right and wrong into his nation. Katara follows him to the afterlife shortly after. They leave behind a legacy. They lead with such strength and vigor, their people loved them, and the citizens of the world loved them. But most of all they loved one another. It was possible for Zuko to find love and to deserve it, and through that love, they were able to cultivate a new world. A world that contained four nations, but they weren’t four divided nations, they were four nations that worked together in harmony. That would be their legacy.

**Author's Note:**

> Considering taking some of the ideas in this one-shot and rehashing it into a multi-chaptered fic. Please let me know in the comments if that is something that would interest you!


End file.
